he might be more balanced, but not better. Edler doesn't have the dynamic offensive and physical presence that Byfuglien has.

And Edler's defensive game is shaky. I never understand where fellow canucks fan get the impression edler is good defensively.

Edler is better defensively than Byfuglien but the gap is not that big.

Agreed. I'm now a Jets fan from Winnipeg and I was a Canucks fan first from high school in 01 until last year. I know how good Edler is when he's on his game. But Byfuglien at his best on defense is simply dominant.

Buff started off the season rough last year. Very inconsistent and had the legal issue combined with weight problems. But after that all blew over and he got used to the style Noel wanted him to play. He got a lot more consistent defensively in his own end and cut down on his bone headed decisions he's been known for. Not surprisingly, thats when his offense picked up. He's probably about at his peak offensively already, but he grew enough throughout the year in the playoff race to make me believe the best as a overall player is yet to come. He'll never be an above average guy in transition, but his physical advantage helps the whole team, and is probably their third best offensive weapon after Kane and Wheeler.

I love everything about Edler's game when he's on. He can run a PP exceptionally, and when he starts checking harder in the post season he really makes an impact on games. That said, he's not the kind of player that is wired to take control of a shift, or a game like Buff is.

Even if Edler was making the exact same coin for the same number of years as Buff, I'd still take the latter. It's actually very close to me, but Buff's game breaking ability with more room for improvement makes him the one on my team if I had to choose.